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Chapter 23
"Fred, would you be a dear and grab some plates out of cabinet?" Molly Weasley asked her son. It was the weekly Sunday dinner at the Weasley house and the twins had offered to help their mother in the kitchen. It didn't happen often, the twins offering their help, so Molly wasn't going to turn it down. Plus, she could tell that her sons had something on their minds, or rather someone. She knew that they would talk; she just needed to keep them busy and it would spill out. Most of her children were like that.
"Sure, Mum," he replied, levitating the dishes to the table.
"George, don't forget to stir that, or it will stick," Molly reminded her son. She watched as he stood there, looking into the pot of boiling noodles, not moving at all. "George!"
"Yes, mum?" he asked, quickly picking up the spoon and giving the noodles a good stir.
"Where were you just now?" she asked, concerned.
Fred laughed loudly. "Merlin, women. I think you need to rest for a moment. He's been standing there this whole time."
Mrs Weasley quickly shut her son up, by merely glaring at him. "You know exactly what I mean. Both of you have been deep in thought, which is not like you at all."
"I didn't know that you thought we were so stupid, Mum. We're not Ron," George replied, pretending to sound hurt.
Sighing, she turned to the oven, to pull out the fresh bread that was done. "Always joking. Even when your mum is only trying to check on you. I worry about you so much! But that's alright, if you don't want to tell me what's wrong, I understand." Mrs. Weasley pulled out a hankie from her apron pocket, wiping a tear from the corner of her eye.
Fred and George exchanged a look, knowing exactly what their mother was doing. She was no more crying then good old Voldemort wore a pink tutu, but they could never hold anything from her when she did it. They hated to see her cry, even when it was fake. George nodded at his twin, telling him to start.
"Mum, don't cry. We are just confused on something that's all."
"And we don't know where to go for answers or what to do about it," George added.
Molly smiled, knowing all that they had needed was a good push from her to open up. She quickly turned to where the food was nearly finished and placed a warming spell on it. She then summoned three cups and the tea kettle, pouring them each a nice, warm cup. "Let's have a cup of tea and you can tell me all about it."
The twins did as they were instructed, always loving a good cup of tea prepared by their mother.
"Thanks mum," they chorused together.
"Now, what's been bothering you? Tell me all about it. Surely I can help," Mrs. Weasley replied, leaning back in her seat to listen.
"Well, it has to do with Hermione," Fred started.
"And we don't know what to do about it," George added.
"You both love her and don't know how your relationship with each other when she picks one of you over the other?" their mother asked, sure that was what the problem was.
The twins exchanged a look, having another one of the silent conversations.
"Is that not it?" she wondered, suddenly concerned. She had no clue what else could be causing her sons to be so distracted where Hermione was concerned if it wasn't that.
"No, not really, Mum," George replied, nervous about what they were about to tell their mother. He wasn't one who became nervous easily, but he really didn't want his mother to think he was weird. Well, not more then she already did.
"Then what is it?" their mother practically demanded.
"Well, we think we..." Fred stared but was interrupted by Pig, Ron's bird flying through the opened window and landing in between him and George. The envelope had both of their names written on the envelope. Curious, Fred quickly opened the letter, wondering what their baby brother would be writing them about.
George and Fred,
Thought you would like to know that you have more competition. And he's a lot better than bloody Malfoy.
Ron
George and Fred quickly got up from the seats, quickly heading out the door.
"Wait! Where are you going? What's wrong?" Molly exclaimed, quickly following hers sons out the back door.
"No time to talk," Fred replied, dropping the letter on the ground, so their mother wouldn't worry too much. Reaching the edge of the wards, the twins quickly apparated away.
Molly reached down and picked up the letter, quickly reading it.
"Oh dear."
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Hermione sighed as she rubbed her eyes tiredly. She had been sitting in her favorite chair in the back of the library for hours, trying to decide what to do.
She had loved Viktor for so long. Yes, she may have been extremely young when she had fallen for the handsome Quidditch star, but she knew that she had loved him. But, he had picked his career over her. She completely understood his decision; she would probably have done the same thing. It didn't mean that he wouldn't do the same thing if they were to get married. Sure, there was not divorce in the wizarding world, once you were married, it was forever. But he could distance himself from her, choosing to spend all his time at the team's facility training. She didn't want a marriage like that.
But what's to say he WOULD do that, a voice in her head argued. He did come all the way to England, leaving everything he had built behind, just to have a shot at being with you, the voice continued.
But did he write you, explaining why he petitioned you, another voice that sounded strangely like Ginny's asked. No he just sent you a generic form, with the names filled in at the appropriate spot. He just assumes you've been waiting here for him.
You don't know that, the original voice argued. It's rather romantic. He has always been a man of few words. He took the time to fill out the form correctly. That has to count for something!
The second voice laughed bitterly. It didn't even look like his hand writing!
"Enough!" Hermione finally exclaimed aloud. She was getting a head ache from the back and forth argument that was going on in her head. Placing her head in her hands, she sighed, realizing that she wasn't going to be able to make her decision tonight. She really didn't need to, since she still had a while to think. She just didn't like to leave something like this undecided. Gathering her purse, she quickly walked out of the library, heading back to Gryffindor tower. Maybe Ginny would have an idea on what she should do. Ginny was usually a brilliant person to talk to about matters of the heart.
As she stepped off the final staircase, nearly to the portrait of the Fat Lady, she was suddenly pulled into a passage that she had never seen before.
"What in the name of Merlin," Hermione started, but was quickly shut up by a pair of soft lips capturing her mouth. She gasped, not at all prepared for the intensity that her mystery capturer possessed. His hands were everywhere and when she opened her eyes to see who her would be attacker was, she relaxed knowing that frame anywhere. Not one to have ideal hands, she quickly encircled his neck with her arms, running her fingers through the hair at the nape of his neck. He shivered, causing Hermione to smile into the kiss, enjoying that she could cause the kind of reaction. She was lost in the moment, not caring about any of her previous worries or concerns.
Hermione gasped when she was swiftly turned around, her body pulled close to the gorgeous man behind her, when another pair of lips captured her in another mind blowing kiss. She moaned into the kiss as she played with extremely sensitive tip of his only ear, knowing he loved when she did that. He shivered and let out an almost primitive growl, pulling her closer to him. She felt as if she was going to lose all control if she didn't pull away soon. Their hands were everywhere, causing normal thought to become almost none existent. Placing her hands on his chest, she gently pushed.
"George. Fred," she panted, in despite need of air.
"Yes, Love?" Fred replied, his voice a few octaves deeper than normal. He was gently trailing kisses from the top of her ear to her neck, causing her to momentarily forget everything.
"What are you doing here?" Hermione finally managed to ask.
"We just came to see you," George answered, running his hands gently through her unruly curls.
"And to kiss you," Fred added, continuing his kisses around the back of her neck. Hermione sucked in a breath, trying not to moan. Merlin help her, but their hands and lips were bloody amazing.
"You just saw me a few days ago," was her brilliant reply. Her mind was not working at the moment, completely fogged by the Weasley twins and their kisses. She had to take a step away for them both, if she was going to put together an intelligent sentence. She took a step deeper into the passage in her attempt to escape their strong arms.
"Yes, we did," Fred agreed, smiling.
"But, if we are honest, that's simply not enough," George replied, grinning widely at Hermione. Her hair was a mess and her clothes were a mess, but he had never seen such a gorgeous sight.
"And we are always honest," Fred added.
"Yes, well," she replied, cursing herself for not being able to put together a sentence. She looked around the passage, seeing an old couch and a few chairs. "What is this place?"
"It's where we used to come to brew up some of our products while we were in school," George answered.
"I never knew this passage was here," Hermione stated, looking up at the ceiling to see several black marks, where she was sure some of their creations exploded.
"Not many people do," Fred replied.
"It's not even on the Marauder's Map," George added, grinning widely.
"How is it not on the map?" she wondered, taking a seat in on one of the chairs. She wasn't going to risk sitting on the couch, knowing the twins would ambush her again with their magical lips and hands.
"We could tell you," George started.
"But we would have to keep you," Fred finished, grinning widely.
"Forever and ever," his twin added.
"And never let you go."
Hermione shivered at their words. She wasn't afraid of them, not at all. At the moment though, she really couldn't think of a reason not to let them keep her, forever and ever.
"I'm sure I could get it out of you somehow," she found herself saying.
George and Fred exchanged a glance, grinning widely, before slowly making their way toward the gorgeous book worm that was sitting in front them.
Shaking her head, she quickly stood and stepped around them, before they knew that she was doing. With one hand on the door, she sighed.
"I shouldn't have said that. I'm sorry," she apologized.
"Why are you sorry?" George wondered, frowning slightly.
"You have nothing to apologize for, love," Fred assured her.
"I just...there's some things that happened today that I'm completely confused about. I don't know how to handle it or anything at the moment and then you pull me in here and snog me like I've never been snogged before! I know how I feel and it's confusing and completely mental and..." Hermione couldn't hold in the tears that had been threatening to escape since the moment Viktor's petition landed in front of her. All of the hurt she had felt from him ignoring her for so many years, all of the dread she felt when she heard about the marriage law, and all of the feelings that she had for Draco and the twins, just came flooding out of her. She sobbed like she never sobbed before.
George and Fred quickly made their way over to the girl they were both completely in love with and picked her up, caring her over to the couch. They set her between them and just held her while all of the pent up emotions came flooding out.
"I'm so sorry about that," Hermione whispered, wiping her eyes with the tissue George had handed her.
"You have nothing to apologise for, love," Fred said for the second time that evening.
"It wasn't fair of me to break down like that in front of you," she replied quietly.
"Mione, you can break down like that in front of me anytime you need to. I'll be right here, anytime you need me," George promised, kissing her gently on the top of her head. Fred nodded, agreeing with every word that his brother had just said.
Hermione smiled, grateful for the two men that sat beside her. It was unfair for them not to know why she had broken down. "I'm sure you would like to know why I feel so confused."
"We would if you want to tell us," Fred replied.
"I want to tell you."
"Then, we are listening," George said.
Taking a deep breath, Hermione started from the beginning. She told them everything. She told them how she felt Viktor asked her to the Yule Ball all those years before. She told them about the wonderful time she had spent with him and his family the summer before her fifth year and how he had told her he loved her. And she told them that he had broken up with her, taking a piece of her heart with him, that had only recently begun to heal itself.
"I think when I received his petition, the walls that I had placed around my heart where he was concerned, just crumbled down, bringing that hurt to the surface again," she admitted. She looked at each of the twins, observing their faces to see if she could figure out what they were thinking. George looked a little angry, while Fred had a thoughtful expression on his face.
"I'm sorry if this upset you. It really helps being able to talk about all of this. I haven't told anyone, other then Ginny about how hurt I was. I only told her, because she basically made me."
"I'm not upset, love," Fred quickly assured her, bringing the hand that he had been holding up to his lips and placing a gently kiss on it.
"Not at all. Well, not at you at least," George added, rubbing soothing circles on her back.
"I think we would both like to have a word or two with Mr. Krum, though," Fred admitted.
Hermione smiled and kissed both of them on the cheek. "Thank you for the thought, but I think that I need to deal with him myself."
"Do you know what you are going to do?" George asked quietly.
"I think I do," she replied, taking in a deep breath and slowly letting it out. Fred looked at George over Hermione's head, raising an eyebrow.
"Do you feel like sharing with the rest of the class?" Fred finally asked, causing Hermione to chuckle.
"Not until I'm completely sure. I don't want to say that I'm going to do something and then not do it. I don't want to become a liar," she replied.
"I can respect that," George smiled, pulling her closer to him. He began running his hands through her hair once again, causing her to close her eyes and smile.
"I believe that we need to get some of this tension out of our Hermione," Fred grinned, leaning toward the witch that was resting against his brother.
"I would have to agree with you, dear brother," George replied, leaning down and gently kissing her ear. Hermione moaned, completely enjoying the attention she was receiving once again. Fred captured her mouth with his, grinning as he felt her practically purring in between them. Hermione brought her right hand up to Fred's head, running her hands through his soft hair. She brought her left hand down to George's knee, running her hand down his leg, not wanting to leave anyone out.
Just as things were about to go further then she had ever gone with anyone, her pocket became extremely hot. Surprised, she gasped, gently pushing Fred off of her.
"What's wrong?" George asked.
"I think Ginny is trying to get a hold of me," Hermione replied, pulling the Granger 2000 out of her pocket.
"I knew we shouldn't have given that thing to her," Fred grumbled from his side of the couch. George nodded his agreement, while Hermione opened the note from her friend.
Hermione,
Where are you? Professor McGonagall is looking for you. I told her you were taking a bath and you would be to see her in just a few moments. That was forty-five minutes ago. If you don't answer me, I'm going to hex you into next year. I'm worried!
Hermione chuckled and quickly wrote a reply back.
Ginny,
I'm fine. What does she want, do you know?
Hermione,
No, I don't know, but if you don't go see her soon, I wouldn't put it past her to put a locating charm out for you. She seemed rather...excited? Nervous? I don't know. It's hard to read that woman sometimes. Where are you?
Ginny,
I honestly don't know where I am.
"Oooops!" Hermione exclaimed when she accidentally pushed the send button before she was finished. George and Fred grinned, knowing their little sister's reaction would be priceless.
WHAT! What do you mean you don't know where you are? Harry and I are on our way out of the Common room to come and find you. Are you hurt? Oh, Harry just found you on the map. How are you in the wall?
Hermione looked at the twins and shook her head. "I have to go."
"We know," they said in unison. They walked her to the beginning of the passage, each taking their turn kissing her good bye. George took his wand out and tapped it against the wall three times.
"I'll miss you," she said before exiting the passage.
So what did you think? Please, Please, Please, review. I'm having some writers block and its hard to write when that's going on. Add trying to look for a job on top of that and its a bugger and a half. :) I hope you liked it. Please review. Thanks to my beta Just Being Sirius! Happy Reading.